


The king of the damned

by Webtrinsic



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Abusive Parents, All powerful Richie, Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Hades Richie Tozier, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Kidnapping, M/M, Marriage, Minor Character Death, Persephone Eddie Kaspbrak, Persephone Goes Willingly With Hades (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Protective Richie Tozier, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22216297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Webtrinsic/pseuds/Webtrinsic
Summary: Eddie's godly title had been Kore since birth until the Fates saw his power and renamed him Persephone: The bringer of death, much to his mothers dismay. The god of the underworld, even being the most powerful remained the most despised. That didn't deter the longing in the god of springs chest to meet him.There had to be a reason the fates saw to change his name, and Eddie couldn't shake the feeling the god of the underworld would know why.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 33
Kudos: 173





	The king of the damned

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HoneyToastandIcecream358](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoneyToastandIcecream358/gifts).



> im so pleased with this

He’d been there for the birth of the universe, he’d faced Kronos, the wrath of the titans, and became one of the most hated gods in existence while remaining the most powerful. 

He wasn’t upset with the other gods for hating him, he was upset at them because of why. He was the god of the underworld, and in a way, since every deity with their immortality found death to be a pathetic and detestable thing, anyone involved was not only despicable but also inherently evil. Richie couldn’t help but smirk at that, he had inherited the underworld, but morals had nothing to do with it.

Hades, otherwise known by Richie, hadn’t talked with Zeus aka Bill, or Poseidon, Ben, in awhile. The invitation in hand, doused in lightning bolts he threw in the trash, uncaring of the announcement, the last invitation had been eighteen years ago. Announcing Sonia’s, also known as Demetor’s, pregnancy, surprising since new gods were rare, but Sonia hated him and likely wouldn’t let him near the child anyway.

This time the invitation only told of a gathering, Bill did have the habit of throwing parties and inviting even those he knew who wouldn’t come. Richie never did and even if he’d thought to accept, he was too preoccupied with winter. Richie thrived then, death followed mortals like a shadow in the night and plants withered so the soil could rest and rejuvenate. 

He didn’t want to admit lately, at times, he’d find himself a little disappointed when winter came. He wasn’t a fan of the bright sun or the nauseating speckles of colors the earth reflected, but whoever the god of spring was, they were doing an impeccable job, so much so it was terribly disheartening to see it go.

Richie could see the passion in the flowers, could feel the liveliness in the leaves, he admired the complex designs and layouts of the flowerbeds. Never in his life had he been attracted to these things before, an odd development for someone of his caliber.

Hades wasn’t sure why the nature god's work begged, tempted him to come up from the underworld. A truly amazing feat because not even Zeus could drag him out of his kingdom, but the flowers did. This mysterious, unknown Spring god did.

As he crossed the withering fields of flowers and grain, Richie could feel a wilting soul, not of a god or a mortal, but of an animal. 

The further Richie moved through the clearing the fainter its life forced became. Once the wildflowers and rows of wheat ceased to exist, a greenhouse sat. Glass walls shimmering in the sun with a hint of gold on its borders. The building wasn’t terribly big, spacious enough to house a few trees yet not big enough to entertain a grand party for the gods.

His body suddenly shivered then, a wave of power casting out, the flowers and grain surrounding him that were already shriveling up due to the onset of winter crippled to the ground. Dead.

That had been a god, likely the god who finally came into view, in the glass house, curled on his knees looking down at the deer’s head on his lap.

The deer was dying, clearly of old age, and the god’s sorrow had killed the plants surrounding them. Richie had long since gotten over the sadness of death, he had to when most living beings he touched ceased to exist, but the god inside certainly didn’t.

Normally he’d feel put out and annoyed by gods mourning those and what that aren’t blessed with the same immortality as they, but the pinched face of the very pretty god before him had his heart lurching.

The god’s hair was dark, nearly black but the sun’s light revealed it was actually a very dark brown. His eyes were wide, nearly identical to the deer in his lap, except his eyes were shining with tears, not willing and succumbing to the darkness that is death. Peaceful.

His tan skin glimmered, blotchy red and pink tinges staining his face in his sorrow as his soft lips sputtered what Richie could only assume was the word ‘no’ over and over again.

He couldn’t hear the breathtaking god through the glass and moved to rectify that, needing to hear his voice, needing to meet the god that brought death and life and was so utterly broken at the loss of a deer of all things.

As he approached the door only then did he realize why there was a golden hue on the glass walls. It was a seal. Trapping the god wrapped in pink and white, this greenhouse was a prison to the young god within who was alone and struggling to say goodbye to what seemed to be the only true living conscious thing he had. 

Richie had to temper down his flames for a second before he opened the door, the seal was strong, strong enough to keep the god inside from getting out, not enough to stop him from getting in. Nothing ever would be.

He could tell by the golden trim on the glass decorated to look like a grain of wheat who’d made the seal while identifying the young god within. The god of spring, fertility, the son of Sonia, Demeter the craziest bitch Richie has the misfortune of ever meeting had somehow blessed Olympus, Earth, the underworld, practically all of creation with that young divine god inside.

He didn’t know the gods name, something he’d rectify momentarily as he approached. The spring god looked up at him when his footsteps grew and the distance wasn’t very far at all, Richie expected fear or judgement but was met with only more tears of sadness as he looked back down at his dying companion.

“She’ll be okay, won’t she?” He asked brokenly, voice as frail as the dead flowers and grass surrounding them. 

Richie wasn’t quite sure if the god before him was asking if the deer would live a peaceful afterlife or was naive enough to question if he thought the deer would pull through, begging the question: Did this god know who he was? He surely felt his presence, it was heavier and thicker than any of the gods, even the great mighty Zeus’.

He didn’t get to ask for clarification because the spring god gave him all the answers with his next question, “You’ll watch over her,” he paused for a second to place a kiss to the doe’s head, “in the afterlife?” 

Settling down beside the fertility god, Richie nodded, not knowing why he agreed so easily to watch over a simple deer but something told him he’d do anything the god in front of him asked.

“I promise,” and with that Richie extended a hand to the deer, it’s tired eyes locking on before it placed its head in his open palm and drifted from the earth. 

The god of spring let out a frail sob before he let out a shuddering breath, clearly trying to compose himself.

Richie had never found himself speechless or taken aback but the god of spring quickly sent his mind reeling. He was balking when the gods small hand moved to cup his chin and bring his face in close before pressing those soft lips to his cheek in a chaste kiss.

“Thank you,” he whispered, lowering his hands back to the ground where his nimble fingers traced the dead leaves.

Richie hadn’t been touched by another being in what had probably been a thousand eons, and a touch that had been kind? Even longer.

Not to mention, not once in his creation had a god even thanked him. Nor had one looked up at him without fear or anger, especially when they knew death would follow the encounter. Richie knew all things had their time, some gods couldn’t handle that and blamed him anyway, this young, gorgeous, kind god, did nothing of the sort.

Richie wanted his name. Wanted to pick him up and steal him from this cage. He wanted to shatter the glass and burn Demeter to the ground for keeping this gift locked away alone with only a mortal being that couldn’t possibly give him the company he deserved.

He’d meant to ask his name and fill the silence but that’s not what came out, “Why are you here, alone?”

“It’s safe,” The young deity exhaled, as if he’d asked that question many times and was just reiterating what he’d always been told in response.

“Safe from what?” This was a god! He had nothing to fear, especially here on earth considering most the other gods didn’t inhabit this realm. Even if they did, Richie couldn’t fathom the thought of anyone hurting this flower. It’d be sacrilege. 

“Everything I suppose, I guess it also keeps everything safe from me too,” now that had the god of the underworld’s curiosity piquing. Until he remembered what brought his attention to the glass house in the first place.

The god before him couldn’t control his powers, at least not fully, and had brought death upon the wilting roses as easily as breathing. This god had sent shivers down his hardened spine, he barely just met him and Richie was infatuated. 

“So you’re in here all the time?” The much older god questioned softly, scanning the small room and finding no furniture, no food, all there were around were dull cracking trees having recently lost their leaves.

“When Spring comes she’ll let me out to help with the crops but as soon as I’ve planted my flowers. I’m put back here,” 

Once the words escaped his lips a burst of fire spewed from Richie’s palms in anger. It didn’t seem to startle the young god, although it certainly caught his attention.

“I upset you, I’m-“

“You didn’t, I’m just not entirely thrilled at the fact that Demeter keeps you in here like a caged bird,” Richie assured, tone angry as he fumed.

His flames tempered down at the hand now gently placed on his arm. The god of spring was touching him again. How Richie wished those hands would never leave his skin.

“You don’t have to worry about me, you’ve done so much already,” The smaller males thumb swept over the inside of his wrist and his eyes were earnest.

“I never got your name,” Richie whispered, placing his free hand atop the other males to gauge a reaction to being touched back.

The soft flutter of the god’s long lashes and heat on his cheeks were good, Richie could work with that.

“I was born as Kore, and the fates one day told my mother something after I’d first-made some flowers wither away. So it’s been changed to Persephone. But my human name so to speak is Edward, I’d prefer you call me Eddie,”

Richie listened with rapt attention, briefly wondering if the god was gifted with feminine names due to being a fertility god. That didn’t matter more than the god’s name being Persephone: the bringer of death.

“You can call me Richie,” 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, I knew I would eventually, I just didn’t expect it to be under these circumstances,” 

“You knew we’d meet?” He asked surprised, he’d known since Eddie’s birth Sonia would keep them apart, not for any real reason other than she hated him. Now, with the name change and Eddie’s power, the fates must have revealed something and she sought to keep them further apart.

A frown took up the god of springs face then, “I thought maybe one day, without meaning too I’d hurt someone, maybe more than one. Sending them to you, I figured you'd make yourself known then since I’d have upped your workload.”

“I wouldn’t have been angry if that had been the case, just so you know,”

“You wouldn’t?”

“Meeting you would have made it alright,”

Eddie found himself leaning closer to the powerful deity before him, a blush on his cheeks as he slid his hand up from the god of deaths arm to his face.

“You’re very kind,” the words were soft, words the god of the underworld would have never believed if someone else had said it.

“Not many would think to associate me with kindness,” He admitted, studying his face and trying desperately to decipher the look he was being given.

“Then they’re not very perceptive,” Eddie murmured back, lost in the endless sea of blue that was the other man’s eyes.

Richie wrapped his arm around the deity’s waist, pulling him closer, reveling in the feeling of a body willing coming to his own. Unafraid, caring, this god who brought death, who called to him like a siren song. 

Richie had felt isolated and lonely for a long time, it’d be an understatement to say he was familiar with want. Except he’s never wanted something as much as the god in his arms. Want wasn’t a strong enough word. 

“And you are?”

“I’d like to think so,” Eddie’s head gently fell against his chest then, hand slipping to the taller man’s shoulder.

“You’re awfully comfortable with someone you just met, especially when that someone is me,” Richie hummed, holding the younger god closer as if he’d try to move away. 

“I feel like I know you, in the very least I’m familiar with you. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always wanted to meet you. See what the fates saw when they spoke your name and then mine, I-it may sound silly. But sometimes I think in the grand scheme of things my creation had something to do with you, I don’t know what yet. I just know now that we’ve met, maybe I can finally understand that feeling in my chest, and why I was deemed the bringer of death,”

“I think you might just be onto something Eds,” Richie really did, another part of him found it laughable, bitterly laughable, that someone could be connected to him. It did nothing to deter the wave of-correctness?

Holding the young god, it seemed faultless, normally when around others he was a burden, something wrong. None of that could be found here and he could feel it’s absence just as strongly as he could feel lives wither and worlds end. 

“That’s not my name,” Eddie argued softly against the taller man’s throat, slowly slipping out of his arms, a resigned look taking over his features, “I hope to see you again,”

“I’m not leaving you here, not with winter so close and no one here to keep you company,” 

“I don’t know if you noticed Richie. I’m trapped here. You can come and go as you please but I can’t break through, I can’t escape her, I can’t escape me,” Belief held to those words, a melancholy ache filling the air. An energy Richie could match easily but refused to.

“I’ll break the seal, you can go free. You can join me this winter in the underworld if you’d like, you’ll have to stay close until we reach my castle. I fear you being a fertility god will rile up some of the souls. I can handle them but I don’t think I’d be able to forgive myself if you got hurt in my domain,”

“Ah yes, another place where the fertility thing causes problems,” Eddie bemoaned before his lips turned up into a smile, “I can really come with you? You don’t even know me,”

“Like you said, you’re familiar,” The god offered a hand, palms still warm from the fire they produced before yet the spring god didn’t complain as he slid his much smaller hand into the embrace. 

“And my mother? What if she finds out? The nymphs will see I’m not here when they come to leave food tomorrow,” The fear in the young god’s voice was palpable, his grip grew tighter as if that bitch would come and tear him away before he’d even left.

“I’ll leave them a message then,”

* * *

Eddie found himself sitting in the god of the underworld’s lap as they went down the river styx. Charon, a man otherwise known as Dean carefully pushed the boat through the thick water. An echo of wailing souls called out in the caverns, the noise filling, far from a deterrent. 

“I’m sorry, I know it’s all probably very lackluster. My kingdom is better, but not as homely or bright as the earth. In fact, it’s rather cold, I’d understand if you didn’t want to stay long. I don’t quite like being there myself at times,” Richie apologized, looking down at the god in his arms who stared back with another look he couldn’t quite decipher. 

“You don’t have to apologize, it’s all been lovely,” the boat stopped as they came upon the manor. Eddie’s eyes widening, standing there was the deer he’d lost hours ago, waiting for him. He didn’t hesitate to hurry over, Richie’s laughter heard from behind as he embraced the doe who rested her head lovingly on his shoulder.

“I figured I could keep a better watch on her with her here,” 

Eddie smiled brightly, wiping away tears and letting go of the doe as it sauntered off. Richie taking the chance to start guiding him through double doors that opened on their own, revealing a long corridor of brick and torches.

Richie could only wonder what was going through Eddie’s mind as his dainty fingers ran across the pieces of stone, staring almost longingly at the fire on the wall sconces. 

“Are you going to give me the grand tour?” 

“Of course,”

* * *

When Eddie had gestured at his throne rather giddily, Richie didn’t hesitate to nod towards it. A primal part of him preening at the sight, his inner voice screaming that this is what he wanted. This is where the god of spring belonged.

He could always take him for a husband, he was a king, the strongest and most inevitable god of all. No one would be able to stop him, except he didn’t want to stoop to Demetor’s level. He couldn’t ask for Eddie to stay longer than winter, not when his beautiful creations lit up the earth. Nothing naturally grew here except nettles and the Dactylanthus Taylorii. 

“I thought since you were a king you’d wear a crown,” Eddie hummed, distracting him from his thoughts as the young god looked up at him.

“I do,” Hades affirmed, pointing over to the other elongated corridor off the throne room where at the very end on a silver pedestal a crown of fused bone sat. Rising from the throne, Eddie followed his direction until he was looking down at the crown with an intrigued look on his face.

“It’s bone,” he murmured, not taking his eyes off it. 

“Do you want to try it on?” Richie couldn’t help but ask, having already seen this beauty in his throne, the urge to fasten this man his own crown and chair was becoming a little too hard to bare. 

“Is that allowed?” The spring god asked a little nervously, as if the god of the underworld isn’t who asked him to try it on. Instead of answering verbally, Richie took the crown into his hands, willing them not to shake in anticipation as he bestowed it upon Eddie’s head.

Richie could only assume that this is what it’d feel like if they did get married, if someday another crown was forged from bone and the dactylanthus flower, maybe a new throne would sit beside his own. 

The sparkling excitement in Eddie’s eyes was worth having that dream crushed, in the very least he could indulge in the others company. Even if it didn’t end with Eddie by his side, which it likely wouldn’t, he could dream, he could imprint the image of him on his throne with his crown perched upon his head for all of eternity.

“Won’t you sit on the throne, complete the look?” Richie suggested as casually as he could, to which Eddie agreed and they walked back to the throne, the crown tilting on Eddie’s head due to its size.

Persephone made the normally cold throne a sight to behold.

“How do I look?” 

“I think you’re the most beautiful thing to grace the underworld in all its existence.” 

* * *

Winter had always been a busy time in the underworld, pressing down on him with its abundance. Having Eddie around helped, especially after that fateful night where Eddie came to his room, afraid to end his night alone after a nightmare.

Now when Richie retired to his chambers after a long day, his large bed with silken sheets was occupied by who he thought to be the greatest creation in all the realms. The beds curtains were wide open, letting him gaze down at the small body whose chest rose and fell steadily with sleeping breaths.

Getting ready to retire, Richie slipped in behind the small body, grinning when Eddie half asleep turned to snuggle into his chest. Richie wound his arms around the lithe body, tucking Eddie close before closing his eyes, basking in reverence for the god in his arms. A daunting realization hitting him harder than one of Bill’s lightning bolts.

He’d fallen in love with Eddie. 

* * *

Richie would build temples in Eddie’s honor, kill and maim any mortal or god that dared disrespect him, Richie would sacrifice his army, his power if it meant he could simply bathe in the bringer of death’s presence. 

He knew this well, didn’t question his devotion, not when Eddie’s lips touched his for the first time. The second it happened the underworld bloomed, Eddie had made life grow where it shouldn’t. All the flowers in the colors of bruises and brimstone, petals falling from their hair as a crown of blue Delphinium weaved through his curls. 

A bright array of Plumeria sprouting from Eddie’s hair as well, Richie had never thought to learn the names of any type of flower until he met Eddie. But now he knew enough to know the flowers in their hair were very much poisonous to mortals. 

“I think I’m in love with you,” Eddie murmured against his lips, cheeks pink, his eyelids heavy as he began to pepper kisses along the god of death’s jaw and throat. Those words spurring the bloom of two red roses in Eddie’s hair.

Those were the words he’d longed to hear since he’d first caught sight of Eddie, as warm as they made him feel, guilt trampled onto his head too.

Guilt didn’t stop him from admitting his feelings, he could never keep something from Eddie. 

“I love you too,”

* * *

Love isn’t something the god of underworld deserved, at least that is what he’d been led to believe. Gods and relationships were fickle, mainly because of entitlement and the fact of immortality. A serious committed relationship between gods rarely happened, but they weren’t unheard of.

Richie wasn’t quite fond of the idea of not having a monogamous relationship, something he knew some other gods snickered at but if Richie read the signs right he was pretty sure Eddie wanted him to himself in the same way he only wanted Eddie.

Insecurity had been thrust upon him his whole career, he didn’t need anymore of it. He didn’t think he could watch Eddie fluttering his eyelashes and looking up at someone else with the same adoring eyes he gave him.

His other fear approached him then, what if Eddie didn’t want to commit his forever to him? How could he ask such a young god to make that decision when Eddie hadn’t even met another suitor? 

“I can practically hear you thinking,” Eddie murmured, running a hand over his shoulder, sitting on the throne’s armrest. 

“I want you to be my king, I want you to rule this place by my side. But I can’t ask you to carry that burden and take that responsibility. You’re too young to tie yourself to me for eternity, I won’t share you with another and I don’t want something if it won’t last. I couldn’t ask that of you,”

“You don’t have too, I’ll do it anyway,” Eddie responded easily, his hand rubbing the back of the older god’s neck, looking down at him lovingly before pressing a kiss to the top of his head and then his parted lips. 

“I was made for you, I don’t have to question that. I won’t leave you,” Richie’s hands were firm as they wound around Eddie’s nimble waist, pulling him into his lap, easing his face into the other’s god’s delicate throat where he was anchored by the hands in his hair.

“And when spring comes?” Richie fretted, his grip growing tighter as his curls were ran through by experienced fingers.

“I’ll come home to you every night, It’s not like I have anywhere else to go otherwise,” Eddie assured, drawing out languid kisses to his temple.

“That could be tiring, having to cross the river every night. Dangerous too,” Richie murmured, willing himself to settle his tense skin under Eddie’s warm palms.

“Cerberus always protects me in the underworld,” Kore reminded gently, thinking fondly of the gargantuan mutt with three heads and different personalities that would magically split into three different dogs to make up for the times his size wasn’t exactly helpful.

“And when you’re not in the underworld?” Eddie shrunk a little at that, he’d been within the safe confines of Richie’s castle for months. The threat of handsy entitled people and gods hadn’t crossed his mind, nor had his mother. Not to mention the added threat that he was the lover of probably one of the most hated gods in existence. 

“I could have a hoard of Cerastes follow you, they’ll wait in the ground as you plant your flowers and eat anyone who gets too close,” Richie murmured when he didn’t receive an answer, calloused hands rubbing over the knobs of Eddie’s spine in hopes of returning him to a peaceful calm.

“They won’t disturb me while I work?”

“Their horns might get in the way, otherwise no. They should be a deterrent. Otherwise just call out and I’ll be there,”

“You’ll be at my beck and call,” Eddie giggled, thumbs rubbing over the older gods unshaven cheeks.

“I already am my prince, whatever you need or want will be yours,”

“It’s a good thing I only want you,”

* * *

Eddie would have to ask Richie when he’d had the cottage built, but it was stocked with creature comforts. Declarations of love in all the furniture, thought put into every piece and so many places for his gardening tools.

Charon had set a time for him to come so he could take him back home when the day was over, but it was the first day of spring and he’d missed tending to earth’s soil so Eddie had warned he may be just a little late.

Hours passed and the ground shifted under the Cerastes, actually helping the soil by mixing it for him. In what seemed to be no time at all, Eddie’s green thumb brought blooming flowers across the earth. It was only then when he was planting the last of his roses did he realize the flowers in bloom were all very closely coordinated to both love and death. Eddie rolled his eyes fondly at himself for being so Richie inclined. 

Ready to pack up his things and return back to the cottage for a shower, a flower he had not planted caught his eye. It truly was a lovely Narcissus, it just didn’t fit the theme of flowers surrounding it. He’d simply have to replant it elsewhere so it’s beauty didn’t take away from the others.

Taking out his trowel and crawling over to the flower, Eddie carefully began to dig it out, stopping short when he felt the air shift. A feeling of dread overcame him, fear bubbling in his chest and before he could even think to call out for Richie, the same magic seal that’d kept him contained year after year in that glass house was keeping his mouth shut, arms to his sides, and legs together.

“Oh my sweet Eddie-bear, I knew you couldn’t hide in the underworld forever,”

* * *

Charon sat worriedly in his boat, he could understand the god being a little late, especially with it being the first day of spring but he also understood that if Richie didn’t come home to see the god of spring safely in bed there would be problems.

When an hour longer passed Charon called for his deity, Richie appearing instantly, tiredly, his eyes scanning the boat for the spring god.

“Where is he?”

“He hasn’t returned your majesty, so I thought to call you,”

Richie found himself quickly scouring the fields of newly planted flowers and double checking the house he’d built with his bare hands but there was nothing, no Eddie anywhere. The springs god’s warmth surrounded him and the flowers around him, all but one. All but one flower that was surrounded by crumpled pieces of grain.

Sonia.

* * *

Eddie blearily opened his eyes, the binds around him tight enough to make his body sore. It’s hue not golden, instead a deep angry red. He couldn’t feel the power within him at all, and when his vision finally cleared Eddie would groan if he could make a sound.

His mothers temple had been built in her honor by the humans in fear she wouldn’t bless their crops. She was an idiot for bringing him here, surely she knew Richie would come for him. Looking up from the chair he was perched on, he noticed to his left the grand empty throne beside him where his mother normally sat.

“She’s preparing your space, but as long as you don’t fight your binding you may remain here in the throne room,” the voice belonged to one of the garden nymphs, her tone conniving as she stalked closer, running her long nails over his cheeks.

“I hear you’ve caught the attention of the god of the underworld, I’ve always thought he was quite handsome. Could you imagine me in a crown Kore? A nymph like me? I doubt you’ll be going back to him after this. Why would he be interested in an inexperienced, unchecked, naive little god? You’ll belong to your mother forever and ever, your purpose is to sit here by her side like a little doll. Me? I can be a queen, and when I take the crown I’ll rule all the gods by his side. Then I’ll come back just to see how you’re doing, still at mommy’s side,”

“Gretta that’s enough for now, has my Eddie decided if he wants to sit out here or does he belong in the shed until he’s a good boy?” His mother crooned, entering the room, causing him to shiver. Thrashing as an answer, Eddie fixed her with his most intimidating stare. Begging the call of death within him only to be met with nothing.

“Don’t look at me like that, I am your creator. Your god!” she screeched, backhanding him harshly enough to send him careening to the floor. Her stubby fingers gripped his hair then, pulling him up to sneer in his face.

“I gave you a choice Kore, here at mommy’s side or locked in the dark in pain. I want my son back, and you’ll be here whether you like it or not! Those binds keep your power latent, you’re only as strong as a mere mortal now. I was being kind Eddie, letting your power free while you stayed in your greenhouse but now there will never be a day you are with your powers again. You will worship mommy like you’re supposed to, and that’s final,”

Gretta otherwise known as Minthe giggled from behind, digging a hand into his hair after his mother let go, dragging him away to whatever the hell the ‘shed’ was.

When the shed came into view, Eddie wished he could cry, wished he could scream. When he was little it wasn’t called the shed, she’d called it his toy chest then. A wooden crate lined with a blanket and cushions with barely enough space for him to lift his head.

Minthe easily forced him inside, even when he was shaking harder than a leaf in a storm. The last thing Eddie saw before she locked him in was her smirking face. Then all he knew was pain for his binds began to burn.

* * *

Killing a god was no simple task, _except if you were Richie_. Hurting a god wasn’t easy, _except if you were Richie_. Both Bill and Ben knew not to mess with him, the titans knew not to mess with him, the world knew he wasn’t one to be trifled with.

So why did some simple goddess of grain believe she could take his future king? His future husband. How dare she take him on his first day of reprieve from a lifeless kingdom. How dare she believe she was clever and cunning enough to get away with it.

It was laughable, laughable in that she wanted to die so badly. Wanted her temples torn down, shrines burned, followers broken. He’d take them all and he’d dispose of every last harvest made by her labor. He’d show humanity she wasn’t someone to bow down too, he was. He was and will always be their inevitable ruler, she was something that prolonged their existence in the mortal realm with deceit and false sacrifice. She’d bathed their work in their blood for nothing.

If there was something to worship it was him. It was him who deserved to be in the presence of Eddie. He had Eddie’s love and devotion, love and devotion he wanted to give equally back. She would not have him. She would not take away their forever. She would wither and fade into nothing, lost throughout history because she meant nothing since the beginning. 

A god would fall, a legacy broken in that it never began.

Kore may have been born of Demeter, his legacy, his being though, Persphone belonged to Richie. Fates intertwined, they’d rule. They’d sing together a sweet siren song of death and rebirth, calling to one another for all of eternity because they were made for one another. Made of each other.

Creation had deemed them one, and Richie would smite those who did not.

* * *

It started with her followers, humans inconsequential because they’d deemed themselves loyal. 

Acres upon acres of land shriveled up and died, grain fell, crops turned to rot. The earth burned everywhere but the fields of flowers that’d been planted by his beloved.

Humans in their dying breaths vowed revenge on the goddess of grain, those who held on renounced her power. Cursed into the night sky they’d drag her to hell as well, blood splattered taunts bathing even the stars red. 

Richie didn’t have to shake the earth to topple her monuments because the weak and dying vowed to destroy everything they’d built in her honor with their last breaths. Spires in her name broke the ground as they fell, sin written in each ounce of destruction, it only being her own.

The nymphs on the earth under her care tried, tried so desperately to make things right but Hades had no mercy for his fiance’s jailers. No mercy as he surrounded them with a thick grueling wall of fire, closing around them, trapping the nymphs the same way they’d trapped his Eddie.

They choked on the smoke, arms burning from when the flames lowered and they’d attempt to reach through that open window to a rotting world only for the fire to rise and swallow them whole once more. 

Death can be kind, death can be a beautiful and elegant thing, much like the deaths Eddie brought upon the earth. The death Eddie saw brightly in him, even when he knew what else was beneath. For every upside there was a down, and the downside of death was destruction.

It was loss and grief, suffering; abrupt, drawn out, it was agony in its blackest of forms. It was shadow in the darkest of nights. 

It was vengeance. It was him making his mark on a goddess who thought they could take the brighter side of death away from him. Didn’t Sonia know? Didn’t she know by Eddie’s bestowed name alone? He’d always find him, always come for him. 

An endless loop of reigning each other in, a string stronger than the golden silk holding the lives of gods and mortals alike.

It was then Richie knew what the fates had seen, what’d prompted Kore’s name to change.

Persephone the bringer of death.

The one who would coax Hades out from the depths of the underworld to kill Demeter. 

* * *

Eddie could hear her screams, could feel her anguish in the air from within his confines as the world abandoned her. The air reeked of smoke, making it hard to breathe, leaving him no choice other than to wiggle until the blanket and pillows were up by his head and he could hide his face against them.

Even with his powers latent, he could feel the destruction in the air. The stench of death and blood filling him, the urge in his gut to replace that fire and brimstone with greenery and fauna unlike the world has ever seen.

The world panged in clarity as nightmares sought themselves upon his mother, the catch being she wasn’t asleep. 

_ Bringer of death, bringer of death, bringer of death.  _

And if he wasn’t mistaken, it was coming.

His fiance was coming, Richie, Hades was coming.

Familiar angry steps approached and the world burst back into color as he was pulled out of the shed and onto his floor, his mother crouching beside him, weeping.

“Why? Why is he doing this? You see why all us gods hate him? Do you see Eddie what this monster is doing to my legacy. You’ve been his hostage, surely you know something?” she pleaded, disarming the bind around his mouth only for him to laugh in her face.

Of course she didn’t know what had happened, she didn’t know they were engaged. That he would be the future king of the underworld, that he loved him. It didn’t even cross her mind that this was for him. A declaration of love in the most calamitous way possible.

Richie was salting the earth with the corpses of her followers, with the ashes of her empire, and watering the earth with her tears. Her creation before her greed took hold had also included sacred law and the cycle of life and death.  It’s fitting her death would complete that cycle, it’s fitting because it was likely what the fates had seen since the dawn of her creation. 

“Do you really wanna know mama? Do you really want to know why he’s doing this?” Eddie asked softly, smirking at her misfortune. 

“Yes, baby why? Why is that monster doing this to us?” she wailed, fisting her hands into his shirt.

“Because he loves me,” 

He accepted the slap to the face with dignity, spitting up the blood from his split lip as her face turned red.

“And now mama, I’ve brought him to you,” Persephone was sure he’d never smiled so wide in his life. How could he not with the realization of her impending doom written so clearly on her face. The building groaned around them and any venom she tried to spit seemed to disappear before her face went blank, a smile slowly lighting up her features as his mouth fell shut with a new bind.

His shirt tearing as she pulled him back up and dropped him back into the shed.

“He may kill me, but the destruction will kill you. I told you Eddie baby, you’ll be by my side forever,” the lid closed and the temple groaned.

Eddie wanted to fear the end, wanted to fear being taken away from his lover. But he knew that if he didn’t survive the destruction where he’d awake.

Even if he lost his powers, lost his title as a god, he’d be in Richie’s domain. By Richie’s side till the end of time.

It disheartened him that he wouldn’t have his way with the earth anymore, or that he’d never get to see the sun, but Richie was worth it. His king of the damned would always be worth it.

Holding his breath in time with the creaks from above, Eddie squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he could say a final goodbye as himself, tears flooded his cheeks and in a second Eddie knew it would be over.

* * *

Awareness came from a steadily beating heart against his ear, long strong arms wrapped around his back and waist, legs tangled with his own, warm breaths being fanned against his hair.

His body although sore felt normal once again, his power strong, yet he felt the need to test it. A second later a petal fell from from hair, letting him know that he was intact, not crushed by debris.

Eddie happily sunk further into the mattress and his fiancés hold, wrapping his arms around the god of the dead’s waist even when his arms protested the movement.

His tampered down hiss of pain instantly had his lover waking, it made Eddie a little warm that his minor distress woke him so easily when a blatant hug did not. 

“Ed's?” Richie cooed, voice sultry from sleep, his hands coming up immediately to massage his bruised arms tenderly.

“I lived,” Persephone murmured against his lovers chest in slight disbelief while keeping a pleasant tone.

“You passed out, I managed to grab the two of you before the temple collapsed. I wasn’t going to let her die so easily, nor was I going to watch you die while you were as weak as a mortal,”

Richie was growling, hands roaming protectively over his skin, assessing, making sure there was no more injury, likely reassuring himself that he was in fact here and not bound helpless in a fucking crate.

“Did she suffer?” 

“She did, and she’ll suffer for eternity in the afterlife too,” 

“I love you Richie,”

“I love you too my flower, I love you too,”

* * *

The gods of Olympus gasped in shock when they arrived at Bill’s party, Eddie stayed neatly tucked under his fiancés arm, playing eye candy quite easily as they sought out Bill’s wife Audra. Hera the goddess of marriage.

It was the only reason they’d accepted the invite, they knew there had been gossip and rumor about the apparent kidnapping of Eddie, and the murder of Sonia.

He knew they had their facts wrong, hated how his mother had tried to ask the other gods for help by screaming Richie had stolen him away.

It made him so angry and nervous Eddie shook, honestly terrified Hera would take one look at them and not marry them. They really didn’t need to her too, but by asking her, especially publicly it’d raise Eddie’s status significantly.

Show he’s off limits, show he was just as powerful as the god they feared and detested so much. With Sonia dead her power had to go somewhere, it'd of course infused with Eddie seeing as he was already able to grow the flora and fauna, he should be in charge of the earth's grain as well.

Richie didn’t waste any time once he saw her, striding powerfully and grinning as the waves of other gods flocked away.

“Hera!” Richie beamed, seemingly shocking the other patrons. Eddie wondered if his soon to be husband had ever smiled when he was alone because he certainly hadn’t in front of anyone else.

“Oh Hello Hades! And Persephone too! What can I do you two for? Can I get you anything?” Audra jumped, looking quite frazzled at their bombardment. 

“I need you to wed us,” Richie explained easily, Eddie giving a loving smile and nod to her speculating face.

Her tone changed quickly, eyes boring through them as they could feel her powerful wrath throughout the air around them. Her mouth formed an 'oh' in shock, looking awfully teary eyed, especially after she peaked a glance at her own husband who’d certainly never commit to a monogamous relationship.

“You two really love one another,” she cooed softly, smiling sweetly even with tears in her eyes.

“It’s like you were made for each other,” she added, dabbing at her onset of tears,  “Of course, we’ll have you two married right away!”

The two couldn’t be happier.

* * *

Richie placed the newly formed crown upon his husbands head, taking a knee once it was settled and looking up at his new king. At his partner, the one who’d rule by his side for all of eternity. That wooden and bone crown quickly became entangled with the onset of flowers sprouting from Eddie’s hair, yet he could feel some sprouting from his own locks and tangling with the old sharp bones atop his head. 

Eddie smiled down brightly at him, taking a seat on the throne right beside his own, the same size and shape yet different in that Eddie’s was carved with flowers blooming and vines twirling.

“And the final thing?” Eddie questioned softly even when he knew the answer.

Grabbing the pomegranate from the pedestal beside him, Richie cracked it open with a silver knife before taking six seeds into his palm and pouring another six into Eddie's.

If they weren’t gods and were simply mortals or souls the seeds would bind them to their realms. They weren’t mortals or lost souls, they were the kings making a symbolic promise that the two of them together would sprout life and bring death no matter where they were.

They ate the seeds at the same time, their now red stained lips moving to clash with one another. Gardens sprouting in the endless space of the underworld as the gods trembled in realization that the world belonged to them.

**Author's Note:**

> snapchat: allisonw1122  
> instagram: webtrinsic  
> tumblr/twitter: webtrinsic1122


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